The human mind
by xX3FrEaK3Xx
Summary: Konohogakure was nothing more than a few ruins in the middle of wide wastelands, once known as the Hi no Kuni. How could it have come to this? Kurama didn't know, but he did know that he had to fulfill the last wish of his container, Naruto Uzumaki: Help Kakashi fix the past. But being in Kakashi Hatake's mind, Kurama learned one important thing: The human mind was breakable.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze was dying. He knew it. The kyuubi knew it too. And if he was being honest, whenever he thought about his eventual passing, he had imagined his family and friends all standing around his deathbed smiling and laughing. He knew they would be grieving, or at least he hoped so. But to give him his last moments of peace and happiness they would put a smile on their faces.

Now no one smiled or laughed. They were laying all around him. Some had their eyes wide opened, faces frozen in their eternal pain. Others couldn't even be identified.

The safe village he knew once as Konoha was no more.

He felt like crying, but there wasn't any energy left in him to do so.

Slowly his head rolled to side, the strength to hold it up had finally left him.

All he had fought to achieve was gone with the sweep of a hand. No more of his beloved Konoha, no more of the Hi no Kuni.

* * *

Kakashi Hatake stood on top of a mountain of corpses. He himself was rather well off compared to wounds he had seen on his former comrades. The only thing severely injured was his left arm, or rather the stump, that was his arm once. It was steadily dripping with blood, resulting in faint nauseas and the feeling that his head was filled with tons of cotton.

There was no obvious emotion evident on his face. Just his pupils had shrunk to the size of small pins: a sign of mental trauma.

Wherever he looked all he could see were the empty faces of his friends, people who had fought alongside him. Somehow, he could hear them whispering _It's all your fault, Kakashi, why didn't you save us? _All of their voices drowned together in one big and loud cloud, pressing down on him, willing him onto his knees.

"SHUT UP!", he screamed, but no one seemed to hear or respond. Mindlessly his hands found his hair, pulling and scratching like he was possessed by the dread, that the ruins of his home emitted.

Then he began to search. For what, he didn't know. Frantically shoving debris and corpses away, Kakashi dug his way one-armed through the remains of the hidden leaf village. His bleeding stump was shown no care.

To an outsider Kakashi looked broken and lonely in a way, that seemed so completely wrong.

* * *

"… sen- sensei…", Naruto wheezed out, a flood of blood following his words. Glassy blue eyes followed the movement of the man, that seemed to be so out of it, that it physically hurt the blond to watch.

In response to the voice of his ex-student, said man held his head, like he was suddenly plagued by an immense migraine. "Shut up!", left his mouth again. All of them were dead. Dead people didn't talk, not to him.

Then his eyes found Naruto's and it was like an invisible dam was broken.

Without uttering a single word Kakashi made his way through the ruins, falling to his knees next to Naruto. Then, with a loud sob, he buried his head in the bloodstained hokage cloak, wrapped tightly around the body of the blond. His cries and pleas for Naruto not to die echoed all through Konoha, but not a single soul heard.

"It's… okay…", Naruto whispered hoarsely and with all the energy left in him, he lifted his hand up to pet Kakashi's head, like he was a little child. He nor Kakashi seemed to care about the blood now smeared in the silver hair.

"How in the world is it okay, when you're leaving me too?", Kakashi asked, fresh tears rolling down already wet cheeks. "Don't leave me! Don't leave me in a world that has nothing good left for me!"

Naruto didn't respond, not because he was too weak or he didn't want to; no, it was because of the kyuubi residing within him. The chakra being felt his end nearing.

The temperature in the sewer, that represented the blond's mindscape, had dropped down to negative degrees. Now the ankle-deep water was freezing over, the ice slowly inching its way towards the cage, that trapped the almighty Biju.

"_Kit, let me be honest with you."_, the fox said. His gigantic head was resting on his paws as if it was to tiresome to hold it up, like he usually did. _"We're not going to make it and you know it."_

The hokage didn't respond. There had to be something he could do. It was against everything he stood for to leave his sensei like this. Alone and seemingly broken beyond repair.

"Kurama, at least you need to stay alive. Keep him some company and guide him back onto the right path.", he thought, so only the kyuubi would be able to hear him.

The fox grinned, showing a row of razor-sharp teeth. The ice all around him was threatening to swallow him whole, but even though his chakra was in mortal danger, Kurama raised one paw between the metal bars of his cage: giving his tenant one last fist bump as a final goodbye.

On the outside Kakashi didn't know about the conversation, that had featured him as a rather important subject. For him nothing mattered, his home was destroyed, all of his friends were dead and now even the last one left was about to leave him alone.

"Kakashi", Naruto started. "Your life isn't over. Your destiny hasn't been fulfilled yet. So, I, as the acting hokage, send jounin Kakashi Hatake of the Hatake Clan on one last journey."

The silver-haired ninja wasn't coherent enough to understand the depth of those words. His mind was clouded with so much pain and anguish, that he couldn't really focus on the present.

"You are to receive a duo-mission. And as your assigned I chose the Biju, Kyuubi no Kitsune, also known as Kurama."

At this point Kakashi was almost a hundred percent certain he was imagining this. He must have gone mad, yeah, that was it. A laugh threatened to escape his mouth: the copy-ninja, the friend-killer, the cold-blooded and Kekkei Genkai-stealing Kakashi had completely lost it.

"Your mission is not to fix the future or make a whole new past. Some things are just meant to happen.", Naruto continued, not in the slightest bit irritated by the lack of response.

"The ultimate goal of your assignment is preventing the downfall of Konoha by the hands of Obito and Kaguya. And as personally requested by your hokage: do not come back with a mind broken like the ruins, that were once our beautiful Konoha."

If Kakashi had been in his right mind now, he would have noticed how clear Naruto had sounded. That was no way a dying man would have sounded like. Minutes ago, blood was flooding out of his mouth.

But the jounin was nowhere new conscious right now. It was like someone had took his soul and left the empty body to rot on earth.

"Kurama, do it…", the hokage whispered, holding tightly onto Kakashi's hair strands. It was extremely dangerous to transfer a Biju into an adult and it was even harder if the sealer wasn't in his best condition and didn't have access to the middle of the new jinchuuriki's stomach.

But Naruto wasn't hokage for nothing, he would succeed even if it would cost him his life.

Slowly a thin, red chakra thread crept out of the seal, located on Naruto's gut. The chakra wrapped around the head of the copy-nin and made its way further downwards. It was heading straight to the location of the soon-to-be seal.

"Kakashi-sensei… Please be prepared. This will hurt you, but please do keep in mind that my intention is not to harm you.", Naruto said, keeping his voice steady to calm the now close-to hyperventilating ninja.

Kakashi couldn't breathe right. The ominous red chakra threatened to drown him in malice. Somehow, it felt like he was trapped back in Itachi's tsukuyomi. His throat was sealed shut, he couldn't scream nor cry.

Then Naruto started performing the needed hand signs, muttering something under his breath. Just quiet enough that someone like Kakashi, with an extraordinary sense of hearing, couldn't understand.

With a pained gasp, the hokage finished the jutsu, that would change his sensei's life.

He felt the all-too-familiar chakra of Kurama leaving him, forever. Memories of the fox and him passed through his mind. Some even from all the way back in his genin days. At that time, they hadn't been friends yet and Naruto remembered how utterly happy he was when the grumpy furball had finally revealed his name to him.

Now, he couldn't help but shed a few tears at the loss of his greatest friend. But the grief was pushed out of his mind, as he thought about Kurama's new purpose. And the thought, that they would eventually meet again, comforted him more than he let on.

The jounin currently receiving the Biju wasn't as well off. Howling in pain, he clawed at his stomach as if he wanted to rip it open. "Help! Naruto, help me!", he cried out, wishing for nothing more than being relieved off this pain. He didn't know what was happening to him, how was he going to contain the ninetails?

The skin on Kakashi's stomach gradually turned a deep ink-y black, forming a rather strange looking pattern. The seal was done. Though the pain, the silver-haired was in, remained. In an unsettling way it seemed to even increase.

The last thing Kakashi saw was the smiling face of Naruto as the light left his now dull blue eyes. The scene engraved itself in his mind, shattering the mind of a fallen soldier.

And if Kurama would swear one thing, _he would not let it come to this again_.


	2. Chapter 1

**The human mind – Chapter 1 **

When ten-year-old Kakashi woke up, the first thing he did was vomit all over the bed sheets. His head was swimming and his abdomen burned with a foreign sensation. Whenever he breathed his lungs felt like they were trying to turn inside out. That being said: he felt like he was dying.

That's when the memories hit him. Of the fight, of Konoha, or rather the remains of the village and of- oh… Naruto. The last image, he had of the blond made him feel sick again.

He couldn't believe it, no, he wouldn't believe it! There was no kami-forsaken way his home was gone, they couldn't be dead. Not when he owed them all a lifetime.

"Kakashi? I made stew, thought you might be hungry after-" Whatever the person was going to say was cut off by their loud gasp.

"Oh, Kashi… why didn't you tell me you felt sick?", the person asked in a disappointed tone, that made him feel like he had just committed the worst sin. Kakashi couldn't lift his head to look up. His vision was blurring like he was drowning in water and he couldn't get out, his arms were too heavy to move.

"How about you go take a bath and, in the meantime, I'll clean this up." The voice sounded male and so familiar that his heart clenched in pain.

But even though he wanted to acknowledge the person's efforts, he was in no state to physically move himself.

A low chuckle resonated through the room. "I see how it is then. Kashi-chan is sick and tired, so he needs to be cared for."

* * *

Minato Namikaze started the day in a happy mood. While making breakfast he was humming an upbeat song like nothing in the world could break his bubble.

The morning sun was just touching the first rooftops, but the streets of Konoha were already bustling with people. Hidden on roofs and in trees were ANBUs in their early shifts keeping a look-out, while the Uchiha police was patrolling through the streets.

One look at the village wouldn't reveal that it was currently a part in a three-front war.

It had a certain reason that the blond jounin was as happy as he was. For one he wasn't sent to the Kumo-front today, meaning he had a free day. And if nothing mayor would happen, he was not to fight for almost a week.

Other people would probably go to the hot springs and relax, but not Minato. Because he was a jounin sensei with a team of two sweet little genin and his chunin-prodigy, that was even younger than his genin. When he was told he was off duty for now, he immediately went off to find his students and inform them of the training planned for the next day.

To find one of his genin, Obito Uchiha, was a rather easy task, if Minato was being honest. All he had to do, was ask a few elderly ladies if they knew where the boy went, that had helped them carry their bags not even minutes ago. "Oh, the cute little fellow offered to get my cat out of a tree. Sweet boy, really kind. I wanted to invite him over to dinner, but he had already run off."

The jounin could work with that info and after one lady pointed into the direction Obito had seemingly run off to, he just needed to spread his chakra a bit.

Ah, there he was. The young Uchiha's chakra was spiking in irregular intervals. Had there not been a cat scratching up his whole face, Minato would have thought his genin was in actual trouble.

"You stupid furball! I'm saving you, can't you see! You don't attack your savior!", he could hear the boy shouting from a mile away. He couldn't help but shake his head in disbelief, all the while grinning.

It was typical for Obito to get himself in trouble while trying to help others. And the sight Obito and the cat made was more than a little amusing.

A crowd of bystanders had gathered around the tree the Uchiha was currently hanging in. All eyes were trained on the cat, that was ready to fight its way out of his arms.

There were many shinobi in the crowd. In the ninja society and especially in the ranks of the Uchiha, Obito had become something akin to a laughingstock. Whenever word of him doing questionable things (in the eyes of the Uchiha) got out, their shinobis would be the first to laugh at him.

Minato hated it with all his being. But he couldn't do anything against it, not when the Uchiha had the hokage's trust. He wouldn't want to mess with the Uchiha police force, risking losing his status as future village-leader.

Finally having enough of the _spectacle, _Minato pushed a little bit of chakra into his calves and pushed himself off the ground. In what seemed to be a blur he grabbed his genin off of the tree and landed with a dull thud behind the crowd.

Not even faltering in the slightest bit he continued to shunshin to a safe distance, far off from all the laughing ninjas and gawking residents.

* * *

The sun had already gone half its way up the sky, when Minato finally found his other genin, Rin Nohara. Thanks to Obito, who vaguely told him her location, it had taken him only half the time, he probably would have needed otherwise.

The medic-in-training had found a quiet spot in the back of the local park. Sitting on gras, hands clasped tightly together, she was meditating. Without him realizing, a proud smile had crept on his face. His students were trying to improve themselves, even in their free time.

Rin took the news better than Obito had. The first reaction of the young Uchiha had been to protest against the sudden training-regime, but after a little persuasion from Minato (_"You'll get so strong, Rin would adore you." _and _"What would Rin say, if she knew you were refusing training?"_) the boy agreed rather enthusiastic.

Inwardly the jounin was thankful, that he got at least one uncomplicated student.

As much as he loved Obito, the boy could be such a handful at times and Kakashi, well, he was just so _Kakashi-like_.

But to Minato he was almost like his unofficial son. He had known the boy, when he had still been in diapers. And after Sakumo's death he felt the responsibility to care for the boy like a parent would. Not because he owed it to Sakumo, but because Kakashi had grown on him and he did it for his own and for the boy's sake.

Rin had just nodded and agreed to come tomorrow at six a.m. sharp.

* * *

And that's how Minato had found himself on the way to Kakashi's apartment. After all, he was the only one, that still didn't know about the training planned for tomorrow.

The man was whistling his cheery tune again. And not too long after, he was standing in front of the door to Kakashi's apartment.

After the death of Sakumo, Kakashi had been doing all he could to get as far away from his old compound as possible. With the help of the hokage and Minato, he was able to move into a small flat on the opposite end of Konoha.

His new residence was nothing like his former home. It had only two rooms, a living room, barely fit for tree adults and a bedroom, that had been embarrassingly bare the last time Minato visited.

The bedroom was filled with a small tatami-bed and a nightstand. The walls were as bare as they could get. No pictures, no trophies (even though he won more than Minato could count), no nothing. It made Minato sad to think, that Kakashi had nothing he would consider worth a memory.

Getting a grip over his emotions, the jounin focused back on the door, that was still closed. Even after he knocked.

That's when he started to worry. Was Kakashi sick? Did he faint? Or did Kumo-nins invade Konoha and decide to kidnap his cute little chunin?

Minato was downright terrified now.

Should he call ANBU? Or should he run to the hokage?

No, he was the Yellow Flash of Konoha, he could handle this situation. And with that he meant breaking down the apartment door.


End file.
